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| Concert Review |  |
by Julian Carter |
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| (As posted to the Big Country Mailing List):
We arrived at UEA about 7:50pm (bumped into some people I used to work with 8 years ago) and headed to the bar, the support band started just before 8, and as I looked over the first thing that popped into my brain was "hell Julianne Regan has stacked the weight on". It wasn't actually All About Eve but if you knew their music from the 80's then you will know what Pelt sound like. One of the bands on Tony's GWR label. Pretty good. The place was full (ish) by now. BC arrived about 9 pm after a a big "Please welcome BC" from someone in the background. They strolled on very casually, and straight into “Kansas.” Nothing new there, as I remembered it from the last couple of electric gigs. “You Dreamer” followed. The set sounds the same as Steve's post about the Nottingham gig. A few things I noticed about the songs—“13 Valleys,” the ebow in the middle started off as the start of “Everything I Need” then meandered into something new. It was different and slower, but I ultimately prefer the rockier version on the previous tour. The 'old' stuff was as Steve's post, all excellent with the highlights for me “Alone”, “I'm Not Ashamed” and “Restless Natives.” “Lost Patrol” was as awesome as ever. I actually think it's good that they have dropped “IABC” etc. “Chance” is only in now to give the crowd a singalong. I'm sulking really because they never played “Long Way Home”!! Right the new stuff.......SUPERB.......“Loserville” is excellent, all in a minor key which is a change for BC (don't pick me up on this if you disagree!). All the others were just as good, and all of them got me dancing around (with the exception of the slow one, which is a grower I think). I haven't been as excited about the new material prior to the release of the album since Buffalo Skinners. It's all rocky, not too much of their Celtic roots. It was all very tight and they were all obviously into the new material. A few odd ball moments…Stuart got the words wrong in “13 Valleys” (he started the 1st verse again after the ebow break in the middle). For “Fields of Fire” two girls got up on stage and danced during the whole song, one grabbed one of Tony's spare bass guitars and strutted her stuff with Stuart during the guitar solos—obviously the highlight of her night Stuart said that UEA must be the place they have played the most gigs in their whole career—an interesting tit bit! I don't know if anyone has got any comments on this?? I did mean to try and keep an exact set list but got carried away in the evening as ever! My apologies. If anyone has any questions about the gig please put them forward them to the list and I'll do my best to answer them. To conclude though - 2 hours of bliss, and they are still as good as the first time I saw them back in the eighties. (I think this is my 15th time). For those of you who haven't seen them in the US and haven't heard the Skinners and Why the Long Face stuff live you're in for a real treat. The new stuff is also worth going for on its own. |
